


The odd couple

by Bluebellepeppers



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Anathema wants to know what the hell is going on between the two of them, First Kiss, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Trans Newt, eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-06-29 10:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19828585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluebellepeppers/pseuds/Bluebellepeppers
Summary: "Adam is more important than my bookshop" Crowley nodded, trying desperately not to focus on Aziraphales warm hand pressed into his cold one or his bright eyes staring into his soul. Aziraphale brightened at Crowley's nod and let go of his hand, reaching into the picnic basket and pulling out a binder. As he opened it to reveal a few pages of places to buy and rent in Tadfield, Crowley knew he had been played like a fiddle but nevertheless spent the next two hours ooing over cottages.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Im not sure how long this fic is gonna be, but I hope you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley and Aziraphale deal with moving and feelings.

It had been about 4 weeks after the Apocalypse. Crowley's plants were flourishing, he hadnt seen head nor fly of Hell, and he had a picnic with Aziraphale planned. He had tentatively brought it up after the bodyswap, and Aziraphale had beamed at him so bright he was glad for his sunglasses. He was heading to the park now, a bottle of wine in hand, and caught sight of the angel. Aziraphalr had already found a picnic bench and had set up an array of foods. Crowley smiled to himself, knowing that most of the food would be remaining with Aziraphale.

"I brought the wine angel, I hope you packed some food for me too."

Aziraphale faintly blushed at Crowlets voice and turned in his seat.

"Oh sit down dear, no need to slink around behind me"

Crowley slid onto the bench. To anyone else, it would have looked rather like a man who didn't know how to sit and should probably get that looked at, but to Aziraphale he looked very graceful. Of course, neither of them are very aware of what stands for grace, so forgive him. They sat in companionable silence as Aziraphale set up his plate of food and Crowley poured them each a glass of wine. Of course drinking in a park, even for two occult beings, is a bit odd, so it appeared to be a particularly good bottle of apple juice. Crowley was sipping his wine when Aziraphale swallowed his food and said, "I think we should move to Tadfield." 

Crowley was not known to startle particularly easy, but he sputtered and he hastly put down his cup. Aziraphalr watched him with an amused expression before continuing.

"I think it would be wise to keep a closer eye on Adam, especially since we didn't exactly explain anything to him nor did we give him much real guidance."

Crowley eyed the angel warrily before he conceded slightly.

"That's not a bad idea angel, but what about your bookshop?" "

As you've been known to say, its basically my personal collection on display and I hardly sell anything as it is"

"You aren't exactly welcoming either" Crowley smirked as it was the angels turn to sputter. Aziraphale finally sighed and grabbed Crowley's hand, looking straight into Crowleys eyes.

"Adam is more important than my bookshop" Crowley nodded, trying desperately not to focus on Aziraphales warm hand pressed into his cold one or his bright eyes staring into his soul. Aziraphale brightened at Crowley's nod and let go of his hand, reaching into the picnic basket and pulling out a binder. As he opened it to reveal a few pages of places to buy and rent in Tadfield, Crowley knew he had been played like a fiddle but nevertheless spent the next two hours ooing over cottages.

* * *

"So this is the place?" Crowley turned off the Bentley and walked over to stand next to the angel. Aziraphale simply smiled at Crowley and walked up to the green door. The house was a simple one, a two bedroom apartment with a yard just big enough for a garden and a living room full of empty shelves, ready to be filled. The outside of the house was had beige walls,green detailing and green shutters. Crowley unlocked the front door and walked inside. He was immediately hit with a cloud of dust and more than one cobweb string. He looked back at Aziraphale with a raised eyebrow. The angel looked sheepish. "I may have had this picked out since before everything."

Crowley shrugged off the implications of his angel picking a house that catered to both their interests far before they knew it was needed and cursed the dust and cobwebs away. They weren't worried about using their powers, as Adam's love for Tadfield was still a strong force that covered any of occult activity. This was also convenient for Anathema, who was very happy to be left alone by other would be witches who were just barely talented enough to sense and then seek out one of the most powerful witch families nearby. When Aziraphale had been able to have a proper conversation with her and learned this fact, he had suggested frowning at them until they felt necessary to leave, but she pointed out that he was an angel and therefore most likely had implanted their need to leave in their heads. He had then offered to do that for her, in which she then felt that was a terrible idea and sent him on his way with an extra scone for Crowley, although she knew the angel would eat it before he even left her yard. (Her girlfriend Newt was a bit terrified of Aziraphale after overhearing that particular conversation, haveing been the one who made the said scones.)

After Aziraphale and Crowley made the house look like it was lived in, which meant putting in a bunch of furniture from each of their past homes and hopeing it looked cohesive, they immediately went about "accidently" running into Adam and his parents and getting themselves invited over for dinner. Adam glared holes into their skulls but his power must have been rechargeing because instead both of the occult beings felt a warm haze wash over them and they both instantly misinterpreted it to be happiness.

As they walked away from the conversation, of which Crowley had only been faintly present for due to the fact of Aziraphale looping his arm around Crowleys and pulling him next to him during the conversation, Aziraphale sighed and said, "Do you supposed we'll ever be like them?"

"Like who?"

"Adam's parents. They seem so settled and dont seem to bicker. And Mrs.Young seemed to absolutely adore everything in her family." Crowley, being Crowley, thought he meant that they seemed to like Tadfield and get along Adam fine, and considering Aziraphale had mentioned killing the antichrist before they knew who it was, this wasnt entirely unreasonable.

So when Crowley then said "Uh yeah maybe one day we will."

Aziraphale being, well, Aziraphale, took this to mean that one day they would be happily married and not bicker as much about how badly their furniture looks next to eachother or how Crowley consumes only coffee and bites of Aziraphale's dessert plates. They both were happy.

* * *

Crowley and Aziraphale showed up to the Young's home at exactly 6 oclock, a gift of fine wine in Crowley's left hand and the angels hand in his right. Mrs.Young greeted them at the door and took their coats, before ooing over the bottle of win and exclaiming to her husband,

"Dear, this wine is what we had on our honeymoon, don't you remmeber!"

Crowley shot a look at Aziraphale, who was smileing guiltily, as before it had been a much different, more expensive bottle of wine.

"Come on you two, I've just got dinner out of the oven." Mrs.Young waved at them to sit down and they found themselves sitting across from Mr. and Mrs.Young. Aziraphale squeazed Crowleys hand under the table before he let go and began helping pass the food around to everyone. Mr.Young turned to Crowley and said,

"So how did you two meet?"

Crowley hadnt thought how to answer this, and began with "well we uh. You know the garden of eden? Well-" Thankfully for all of them involved Aziraphale was able to gracefully enter interrupt.

"We met at a garden that reminded us of if the garden of Eden existed. We just hit it off." He smiled at Crowley and began to eat his meal. Mrs. Young looked at the two of them and smiled.

"We met in a garden as well! Maybe not eden level, but certainly beautiful. I think the roses were in bloom?"

She began to talk about the different plants and such and Crowley got into an animated conversation about plant care. As the meal progressed Aziraphale enjoyed watching Crowley slowly relax. _"I'm so glad we finally got together_ " he thought to himself, becoming absorbed in the way Crowleys hands moved in the light and the movement of the laugh lines along his jaw. When dinner was finished, Crowley tried to help clean up when Mrs.Young finally shooed him off to "go spend your evening with that nice man of yours" This was an odd thought to Crowley, but he collected their jackets and they said their goodbyes as they slipped out into the cool fall evening. Crowley found his hand comfortably tucked in Aziraphale's as they walked to the Bentley, and they didn't let go until they got home.

When Crowley crawled into his bed that night, he tried not to think about it too hard, knowing his best friend was mosy likely just trying to give the humans a good reason as why two middle aged men shaped beings were sharing a small home. He drifted off to sleep with that unhappy though.


	2. The root of confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anathema and Aziraphale catch up, Crowley makes mischief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in a day and realized its a bit all over the place but i wasnt sure how else to go about this chapter. I'm tryinf to get a bit of both their perspectives, but if anything its a bit of a filler so have fun. Again, probably mistakes but its fine

"Well Adam appears to be functioning as humanly as we hoped."

Aziraphale said, placing his mug of tea and Crowley's coffee on the kitchen counter. Crowley mumbled something in reply before taking a long sip of coffee. Aziraphale pushed on,

"I think we should observe for a few more weeks and then we can check in maybe once every two weeks or so? I'm not sure what else we could interfere with here, not with both of us here to cancel eachother out."

Crowley nodded again. He knew the angel would want to put a limit on their cohabitation at some point. But he didn't want to give it up just yet. Their conversation was interrupted by a sharp rapping on the door. Crowley, thankful for an exit before the conversation got worse, answered it. Anathema was standing there, and managed to only briefly stare at the sunglasses. This was a new record. The demon sighed and turned back towards the kitchen.

"Angel, your lady friend is here"

Anathema looked at him sharply before walking in straight to the kitchen. After hearing Aziraphale's excited voice greet her, Crowley left the house, as he always did when the witch came over. She tended to get into religious debates with Aziraphale and one time poor Crowley had made the mistake of sticking around and they both expected him to be on their side. Neither spoke to him for a week afterwords. (If you asked Aziraphale, he would have denied this, stating that angels don't hold grudges. If you asked Anathema, she would have insisted it was longer.) Crowley wandered into town. He always enjoyed planning, and when he saw the waterfountain in the park, he had an idea. 20 minutes later, he had Adam on his team.

\----------------------------------

Meanwhile, anathema and Aziraphale were haveing a debate, but it was rather tame for the day.

"So if She knows everything, how come She didn't know that you two would stop the Apocalypse?"

Aziraphale sighed, "For the third time, She may have known but its ineffable!"

"That's an excuse." She rolled her eyes at him.

"You're an excuse."

"Mature. Did you learn that from Crowley?"

"I taught him that."

Anathem was quiet for a moment and then let out a giggle and Aziraphale joined in on her laughter. After they finally calmed down long enough to hold a conversation, Anathema leaned back in her chair and asked, "How is Crowley doing anyway?"

\--------across town--------

Giggles could _also_ be heard behind a bush in the town's park. Crowley and Adam were crouched behind it, peering at the water fountain. A older man with a small dog was angrily lecturing a stone cherub on the top of the fountain, which had sprayed him with ice cold water everytime he walked within its radius. The cherub didn't appear to be listening, as it sprayed him again.

They had had painted the cherub an obscene color of neon green so that people would walk over and look at it, getting sprayed in the process. Of course, Crowley thought this was brilliant. Adam, on the other hand, was not convinced.

"How is this a demonic job? He's always cranky no matter what we do."

Crowley replied that now he would go make other people upset, and then those people would do the same. Adam was not particularily impressed. Crowley racked his brain for other things that wouldn't necessarily get him on Aziraphales List of Bad Choices, which he had started sometime after the crucifixion and it had doubled in size recently. "Do you wanna glue coins to the road?" Adam gave him a Look not unlike the ones Anathema gave him, and muttered something under his breath about uncool godfathers.

\------back at the cottage------

"Well I'm sure he's up to something. Maybe he'll recycle his coin ideas. I just hope he makes it back in time for dinner, we have a date tonight."

Anathema raised her eyebrow at the angel. "Zira....does he know its a date?"

Aziraphale looked mildly confused before continuing.

"Well its not much different from before the Apocalypse, we always go out for food around this time. But it's a Date now." 

He said the last line with such a flourish and an eye wiggle, which only made the witch more unsure of what exactly he was saying. Was he being sarcastic? Did he mean a romantic date? Do occult beings do romantic dates? She had tried to figure this out before, but she only walked away more confused everytime. Once she had invited them on a double date with her and Newt, only for them to ask how long she and Newt had been friends and if either of the women were seeing anyone.

"So this date, does he often miss it?"

"Only a few times, usually for demonic reasons. Oh you know how it is, they get caught up at work, a tempting, maybe a stalled traffic light."

"Right...."

* * *

Crowley had no intention of missing dinner, despite how unaware he was that it was now a Date. He always enjoyed eating out with Aziraphale, as they often had long discussions reminiscing the last time they were at wherever they were eating. (Although Aziraphale was the one who did the eating, Crowley was the best at remembering where, when, and what.) But he was rather concerned that they had been around eachother too much. As he checked his hair in the side of the Bentley (which he had decided to grow back out), he wondered if perhaps he should resist some of the affection his angel was throwing at him. _It's really a bit much._ He thought, _We only have to put a facade of being a couple, but he's even affectionate at home._ Crowley didn't know how to handle this new development, and tended to exit the room as quickly as possible after such an occurance as a gentle hand on his shoulder or a attempted kiss on the cheek goodnight. He finished fixing his hair and got in the car, where Aziraphale had been waiting rather impatiently and mumbling about vanity. He smirked at the angel and responded with a "Well I AM a demon" and "well do you think it looks good?" (This last one was genuine, but aziraphale had never quite been able to read wether he was teasing or needed a compliment on his hair.) Aziraphale reached over and tucked a loose strand behind his ear, letting his finger linger for a second on Crowleys face. 

"Of course you look lovely my dear" was not what Crowley had been expecting to hear, and with a red face he punched the gas pedal just a tad harder than usual.

* * *

They arrived at the little sushi restaurant about an hour from Tadfield. Aziraphales favorite table was miraculously empty, and he very eagerly ordered enough food for the both of them. Crowley ordered a coffee and asked if they had redbull, which managed to get him a new record of 3 glares from his waiter, Aziraphale, and a passing busboy. Crowley sipped his miraculed redbull-coke combination as Aziraphale ate his sushi. He was very excitedly explaining what he and Adam had done earlier, and much to his chagrin Aziraphale pulled out his List of Bad Choices and began hastily scribbling as Crowley talked.

"Number 169" the angel said without looking up, "Thats how many of yours I have written down" Crowley smirked "You know what that means right?"

Aziraphale reached over and patted Crowleys hand. "You need a new hobby dear."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More confusion :)

Aziraphale wandered through the house with a book in hand and a demon to find. He hadn't seen Crowley all day and was used to his qouta of affection a day. He had shoved out the thought that maybe Crowley didn't want to be found, and so when he did eventually find Crowley sprawled across the couch, flipping through the tv channels, he sat down next to him and got comfortable.

"Anything good on?" Aziraphale asked as he leaned back into Crowley's arm, which had taken up the rest of the top of the couch where his head wasn't. Crowley, who had stiffened significantly when he felt Aziraphale leaning against him, gave a unhelpful answer and continued flipping silently. The angel opened his book. He began to softly read outloud.

This particular bit didn't bother the demon. What bothered him was that it was a romantic book. Lines like "they cuddled in the chair" and talk of them holding hands made Crowley more and more uncomfortable. (If this was all it took to make the demon uncomfortable, Aziraphale feared of what other affection may make him run for the hills) But Aziraphale didnt voice this concern, in fact, he wasn't sure why it was bothering Crowley, but he didn't feel like he should ask. He only leaned more into Crowley until his head was resting on his shoulder and quietly read to himself. 

Crowley was bright red. He had removed his sunglasses to better see the tv, and now his eyes were very obviously snake eyes. Usually, if he was focusing, he could make them appear more human, adding more white and makeing them more palatable. But he couldnt focus on that. He couldn't focus on much other than the warm body of Aziraphale which had dug into his side and made a home in the cave of his arm. He looked down at the blonde halo of curls and resisted the urge to smother his face in it. He was afraid to move, that if he moved he would break the spell and they would both bolt.

He sat there long enough that he thought he would be fine. But then aziraphale entangled his other hand with his and turned his head to stare into Crowleys face and the demon couldn't take it. He abruptly got up, causing the angel to fall over and squeak with indignation. Crowley muttered something about plants and practically ran out to the backyard. Aziraphale blinked. He didn't know what else to do. One second he could feel Crowley's love radiateing louder than it had been in weeks, and the next his boyfriend was running out of the room like a spider bit him. He tried to think what could have caused it. There where no spiders, as they knew better than to disrespect an occult being (Anathema had less luck, it seemed the spiders had found a home with her, and Newt and Pepper enjoyed studying them). He spent the rest of the evening trying to figure it out while watching Crowley aggressively "garden" his plants from afar. Of course he didn't have the good sense God gave a dog to just ask Crowley, so he just stewed some more.

If he had asked Crowley, he would have only recieved an angry nod at the plants.

If he had happened to watch Crowley at two in the morning, he would have seen him standing in the same place in the garden, ranting at the night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is really short, im working on a particularily difficult next chapter. I couldnt decided wether to keep this separate from the next chapter or not, so here you go.


	4. How it all came to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out why dear Aziraphale thinks their dateing

Crowley needed to get out of the house. After the incident of the couch from earlier that week, it seemed he couldnt be anywhere without Aziraphale watching him or latching on to him. Normally he would love this, but it was unsettling because it felt as if Aziraphale could see right through him. Like he could sense the centuries of emotion, of love, that Crowley felt for him. And Crowley didn't like feeling out of control. So he decided to go for a walk.

Crowley wandered around town. He caused a few people to trip, but it didn't cause the same joy he was used to feeling. He finally went into a coffee shop and sat down with some coffee. He was stirring his coffee and muttering when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see (Newt? Is that her name?) standing in front of him. She looked a little terrified of him, but she still said,

"Can I sit here?" while pointing at the chair next to him.

He nodded, hopeing he would be able to leave soon.

"So uh how have you been settling in, here. Not here, you know, your house." She fumbled through her words.

"Fine."

"Anathema says- said that you arent as scary as I think and I should try and uh talk to you."

Crowley mentally cursed Anathema. She couldnt go around saying he wasn't scary.

Newt continued, "I was actually hopeing to talk to Aziraphale, I wanted some advice-" This didnt help Crowleys mood.

"-but maybe you could help me out too. I want to propose to Anathema."

* * *

When Aziraphale arrived at her door, Anathema gave him a once over. He was shaking slightly, and he seemed to have dulled somewhat. In short, he looked miserable. He clearly needed to talk to someone.

He followed her into the kitchen and Anathema told him to sit as she mixed them up each of cup of medicinal tea.

"So why did you show up looking like a drowned rat" was not what he expected her to say, but it got to the point.

"Crowley has been leaving the house a lot lately, and I can't seem to get a gripe on him."

She raised her eyebrow. "But he leaves the house all the time? Whats different about now?"

Aziraphale's face went very pale. Almost sicky even. He took a large swig of his tea and stared in the distance. Anathema sighed. She could wait. She got up and refiled her cup with tea and pulled some scones out of the fridge. Aziraphale loved them, somaybe that would get him to talk. She sat back down and he finally blurted out, "Do you think Crowley loves me"

She looked at him hard for a solid minute. At first she thought he was jokeing, but then she saw his eyes watering.

"Why wouldn't he love you Zira?"

He hastily wiped away the tears building up in his eyes and sniffed.

"He doesn't seem to want to be around me, and according to my observations on relationships, he should want to be around me. No matter what I do or how welcoming I am, he runs away!"

Anathema stirred her tea thoughtfully for a second. She really only had her relationship with Newt to compare it to, and they weren't anything like Aziraphale and Crowley.

"Maybe he's feeling overwhelmed. Have you tried talking to him about it? And can't you sense other peoples love?"

"Everytime i think to bring it up, he looks positively murderous. I hate to make him feel worse than he probably already does! And of course I can feel love, but sometimes its hard to separate the types of love."

"Types of love?" Anathema was a scholar at heart, and couldnt help getting sidetracked by it.

"Eros vs. Philia. Eros is very similar to romantic love, vs. Philia, which is friendship love. I find it difficult to read it around Crowley for reasons unknown to me."

She stopped herself from asking more about the types of love(she figured she could as later) and said, "Probably because you've known him for 6 thousand years?"

Aziraphale took a deep breath. Yes that was probably it.

"I just thought we were a couple now, but he doesn't seem to know how to act as a couple."

Anathema thought back to the interactions Zira had told her about.

"Zira, can you tell me exactly how you two became a couple."

* * *

_The night after Armageddon_

Aziraphale and Crowley were sitting on the bus. To be exact, Aziraphale was sitting, and Crowley was leaning on him, his legs splayed out into the seats across the aisle. They hadnt been in contact like this in a long time. Aziraphale hung his arm around Crowley so that he was leaning against his chest.

The demon had somehow managed to fall asleep, and a light snoring could be heard throughout the bus.

Aziraphale thought about the implications of their previous conversations. He knew that when modern humans invited someone they cared to stay the night, then they would often be dateing afterwords. All he knew was that Crowley did care for him quite a bit, and that he had been invited to his house. (Of course, he never bothered to find out what the humans DID while they were staying over, so this sounded like solid logic to him)

Aziraphale finally gave up debating and decided to shut his eyes. He was surprised to be awakened by Crowley, who was pulling him out of his seat to get off the bus. It seemed the confused busdriver had made it to his flat.

He followed Crowley up to his flat in silence. He tried to raid his brain of anything he was supposed to do, but he was rather tired. This manifested in him yawning for the second time in histoy as they walked through Crowley's front door. Aziraphale wasn't surprised by how sparse the flat was. But he was utterly delighted when he saw a grand wall of plants. He walked over, slightly in aw. His thoughts were interrupted by Crowley. 

"Do you want anything to drink? I think I've got some bottles of wine in here, but not much else" Crowley waved his arm, indicating the cold kitchen.

He was a little alarmed at how entranced Aziraphale seemed with the plants. He walked over to stand next to the angel.

"Crowley, these are simply lovely." Aziraphale breathed, his eyes fixed on a large leafy fern in the corner.

"Don't compliment them angel, it'll go to their heads. Besides, they've been prone to wilting lately. " Crowley muttered, lightly misting a small bonsai.

Aziraphale smiled at the concept, and leaned in to a small plant in front of him.

"Don't listen to that old snake, you are very lovely and I'm pleased to meet you." He whispered to the plant. He gently shook one of the leaves the way one would shake a hand, and stood back up as Crowley turned back around to face him.

"Now I'm not sure about you, but I'm going to go sleep for a long time." Crowley finished the spraying his plants and started walking back towards his bedroom.

He froze when he heard Aziraphale say, "Where am I supposed to rest Crowley?" The demon turned to him, and they stood in awkward silence before he said "Well I suppose you can share my bed. It's big enough for the both of us"

This made Aziraphale panic slightly, because from what he knew of reading, sharing a bed meant they were more than friends. But outwardly, Aziraphale smiled at him and nodded, following him to his room. (He assumed Crowley was following the same line of thought, which Crowley was not.)

Crowley crawled into bed and Aziraphale miracled himself into some pajamas. Crowley smiled at the tartan, but chose not to say anything. He was more than a little alarmed at the angel currently crawling in bed with him. He knew that this was purely for sleep, but he couldn't help letting his mind wander. They laid next to eachother, separated by an inch, for a solid 15 minutes. Crowley was beganing to finally drift off when Aziraphale interrupted him.

"Crowley?"

"Hm?"

"How do you sleep?"

"Angel, if you're telling me you don't know how to sleep, I am going to cry."

"Oh my dear I'm sorry"

"No no, here."

Crowley tried his very best to show Aziraphale how to sleep and eventually, they did manage to sleep, Aziraphale in his tartan pajamas, and Crowley sprawled across the bed and the angel.

Later, when Aziraphale woke early in the morning, he was wrapped up in Crowley's arms. He found he didn't mind, and let himself enjoy the comfort. After all, this means their dateing now, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwahahaha. I'm feeling pretty great about this chapter, so I hope everyone enjoyed reading it. Im writing all of this on my phone, so thats probably why if the formatting looks off. I should have the next chapter up in the next couple of days.


	5. The beginning 2.0

Anathema wasn't expecting what Aziraphale had told her. She could almost laugh at how absurd it sounded. Almost. The sad look on Aziraphale's face stopped her. She sighed and reached over the table to place her hand over his.

"Zira, I don't think that you two are dating."

The angel began to withdraw into himself but she held on.

"I know that probably hurts, but your observations weren't complete. The people that stay over night and then start dating? Well for one, they said to eachother that they were dating."

She paused to check on him. His face had grown more pale as she talked.

" and often, those people had sex while staying over. And even then that doesn't mean their dating. I can safely assume you two didn't do that."

He blushed slightly and shook his head. He was mortified. What could Crowley think of him! And to think he prides himself on understanding humans. He was actually rather annoyed that he hadn't considered that. After all, he's been around since before Adam! (Adam as in the first man, not the first antichrist. Although, technically either would be correct)

While Anathema had been talking, he had freed his hand and was wringing the end of her nice tablecloth. She had inherited it from her grandmother and frankly didn't appreciate him wrinkling it. She got up and grabbed his hands, pulling him to his feet. She smoothed out his bowtie and jacket and began pushing him towards the door.

"Now, you're going to go and talk to Crowley and clear all this up."

"Oh but this is so terribly embarrassing! What if I just disappeared for a century or so?"

"You will not be leaving me with a heartbroken demon to coddle. Go deal with your issues! Admit you love eachother and get over it all ready."

Anathema finally shoved Aziraphale out the door, handed him a scone and shut the door. She sighed, her back resting against the door. She didn't usually take time for other's relationships, and this one was getting on her nerves.

* * *

Crowley walked away from his conversation with Newt more downtrodden and lovesick than before. Not only had he given in and helped Newt plan a proposal, but he had also let Newt believe that he and Aziraphale were a couple. This did nothing for his confused emotions nor his repressed ones. He had been successfully repressing them for over 5 thousand years and he wasn't going to start wallowing now. Of course, he was wallowing. He knew that he was in love with the angel and he wasn't too keen on going back to the house. Every move Aziraphale made in the past two months had only caused him to care more and more, and repress less and less. And that wasn't right. He decided to loiter around the park. Maybe he could just disappear to London for a few days? Surely no one would notice.

But then he remembered he promised to be around when Newt proposed. He groaned rather loudly. This earned him a stink eye from a mother nearby, who grabbed her son and quickly begin walking the other way. _Good_. Crowley thought, _finally someones afraid of me_. His interactions with Newt had only served as a reminder as to how friendly he now seemed to everyone, and that simply wasn't right. He had begun debating different ways to fix that, many included tearing down the mainstreet in his car, when his thoughts were interrupted by someone called his name.

He looked up from his shoes briefly, and saw the one person he didn't want to talk to walking towards him.

Aziraphale.

He tried a nonchalant wave, but it came off more as a robot trying to communicate. When Aziraphale finally reached him, Crowley curiously watched him. He was standing stiffer than usual, and his face looked vaguely like if an angel cried. Even his statement of

"Hello dear, I've been looking everywhere for you! We need to talk. Let's head back to the house and I'll fix us up some tea."

seemed wooden and uninvolved. Crowley peered over his sunglasses at the angel. His heart sunk. Surely he isn't already kicking him out? They had just started a routine. Well thats a lie, more like two routines that don't mess with the other.

"Sure Angel " Crowley muttered. He slunk over to walk side by side with Aziraphale, and they began to walk home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise ill have the next one out faster, after the last chapter i was hit with some writers block. This is just the tip of the iceberg for these two. 
> 
> Ive been very much winging it on each chapter, and this has gone a much more different route than i originally planned. That being said, im enjoying it immensely so i hope you all are too.


	6. Chapter 6

The two men shaped beings walked back to their home. They were silent the entire time. And as they reached the front door, Crowley stepped back to let Aziraphale in and shut the door behind them. Aziraphale shuffled past Crowley and begin makeing himself tea in the kitchen. Crowley sat and watched him bustle around the kitchen. 

Aziraphale stared at his cup of tea. He knew what he needed to say, but he wasnt sure how to say it. He sipped his tea . Crowley cleared his throat. He avoided the demon's question marks for eyes and continued sipping his tea.

"Angel....I know what you're going to say" Crowley said.

Aziraphale froze. What?

"Everyone needs their space I know. I'll look for somewhere to stay for a while. I mean you said that Adam was probably fine anyway. No point in demonic presence."

Aziraphale stared at Crowley. He was staring intently at his untouched tea. A tapping could be heard under the table from his leg. Aziraphale searched for words. Finally he choked out.  
"Why would I want you to leave?"

"Because you don't like being around me so much." Crowley said this very matter-of-factly, and he pushed his tea away as if to emphasis his point.

"And who decided that? You? Because I certainly never said that." Aziraphale unfroze and reached across the small kitchen table to grab Crowleys hand. But he jerked his hand out of Aziraphales grasp.

Aziraphale sighed. "Dear. Dear please look at me. Yes good. Take off your sunglasses. Please."

Crowley pulled them off and placed them as a barrier between them.

"Crowley I want you to listen to me. I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay with me for as long as you can."

This time Aziraphale was able to grab his hand.

"Crowley. I love you. And the last thing I want is you to leave."

Crowley stared at the angel, his face a bright red from his eyes to his neck.

"You've loved me for a longtime but that never stopped you from pushing me away" He snapped back, unsure on how to receive this kindness.

Aziraphale looked like he had been slapped.

"Because I worked for _Heaven_. I thought that's all we could have but I know now. We're on our own side remember? Crowley, I loved you enough to reject Heaven or Hell. I chose you. I choose you.

They stared at each other. Aziraphale's knuckles had turned white holding Crowleys hand. Time froze in a way they hadn't seen since Armageddon. The clock ticked on but Aziraphale didn't even breath. Because in all this time, Crowley had always been the one to tempt. To say "our side". To give and give and give and receive little to nothing in return. Only to be rejected in different forms for centuries.  
But now Aziraphale was giving. He was giving his heart without the restraint of heavenly intervention. And Crowley could just reach out and take it.

Crowley didn't realize he was crying until the warm drip of tears were running down his neck. His angel. Yes His angel, reached over to dab his face.

Aziraphale breathed again. "Please"

Crowley nodded. He watched as Aziraphale got up and stood in front of him, offering his hand. He accepted and was pulled up to face the angel. Crowley felt a tentative hand reaching up to cradle his head. And they kissed. And they kissed again. Again and again. It was sweet and bitter and all their emotions running together and they just stood there and held. For fear of movement breaking a moment.

Finally Crowley pulled back. He had stopped crying.  
"I just have one question angel"  
"Yes?"  
"Why did you act like we were a couple instead of, i don't know, asking me out?"  
This caused Aziraphale to turn a red color that Crowley found very fetching.

"I. Well you see. I had a misunderstanding on human rituals, and I made some assumptions after I stayed over and slept in your bed."  
Crowley knew what Aziraphale was talking about, and he caught on as quickly as Anathema had. He let out the wide laugh that Anathema hadn't.  
His laughter shook both of them and caused Aziraphale to join in with him. They finally stopped laughing and Crowley leaned in to kiss him again.  
"That certainly explains a lot."

They spent the rest of their day curled up together on the couch. Aziraphale was reading aloud again, but now when he mentioned romance, Crowley would only smile and smother his nose in the angels hair.  
When Anathema checked on them a week later, it turned out that they had stayed curled up like that for a week. Aziraphale had gone through 4 books and Crowley finally understood what was so wonderful about books (that weren't about astronomy).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long this took! I havent decided yet if im going to add another chapter or not, i kinda want to do newts proposal and the aftermath with a/c as a couple. Let me know if thats something you would want to see!


	7. A detour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley wont admit he cares about the ducks.

"Do you wonder how things are in london?"

"Hm?" Aziraphale looked down at his lap to see the demon had woken from his rather lengthy nap. (Crowley had rested his head on his lap several hours earlier, saying "just for a second")

"In london. If everythings ok without us." Crowley was concerned for something in london, but it sure wasn't everything.

Aziraphale pursed his lips and set his book down.

"Well I'm sure their functioning as well as the rest of the world."

This was met with a snort from the demon.

"That's reassuring. But seriously, do you miss St. James park? The bench, the talks, the ducks."

Aziraphale sighed. Of course. The ducks.

"So you miss the ducks" Crowley refused to look him in the eye.

"I dont _m_ _iss_ the ducks." Aziraphale smirked "You're a terrible liar."

"I just want them to be ok!" The angels gaze softened and he smoothed Crowleys hair.

"I'm sure they're fine dear." Aziraphale kept combing his fingers through his red hair, which he had let grow back down to his shoulders. Crowley muttered something unintelligible and closed his eyes. He shifted slightly, and he drifted back off again. Aziraphale smiled as he picked his book back up. He made a mental note to talk to Anathema later.

The next day, Anathema and Aziraphale were sitting in the kitchen watching while Crowley was working in the garden. Anathema sipped her lemonade. Aziraphale had chosen some sort of strawberry explosion of lemonade, siteing that lemons were acidic and therefore bad for him. She then reminded him that he was an ethereal being. He, of course, said something about setting good behavior. This discussion was interrupted by a shout of joy in the garden, where a sweaty Crowley was holding a carrot above his head and pointing. Aziraphale smiled fondly at him.

"Whats he yelling about?" Anathema asked

"He's trying vegetable gardening "the boring way" or. Er. Your way. Speaking of gardening, I was actually wondering if you would watch his plants next weekend?" She raised an eyebrow.

Aziraphale explained, "I'm going to take Crowley back to St.James Park. It seems he6s. Er. He's worried about the ducks."

"The ducks?"

"Yeah. Not sure why, but I suppose I'll find out then. So you'll watch the plants?"

The angel had the puppy eyed look that no one could deny (Crowley thinks he can, but Hamlet is evidence against him). Anathema sighed and agreed. Crowley's entrance cut their conversation short and Anathema excused herself. This wasn't out of the ordinary, and Crowley would never object to having his angel all to himself. Crowley took the seat that Anathema had been in. He had one of Aziraphale's astronomy books in one hand, and he took Aziraphale's hand in the other. 

Aziraphale didn't mind. Ever since their Talk, he had happily watched as Crowley initiated more and more contact. It almost surprised him at how easily they slipped into always being in contact. Crowley would lean on his shoulder, or take his hand while strolling through town, and he would smile to himself. Aziraphale particularly enjoyed Crowley's habit of slipping his arm around his waist and slow dancing when one of them turned on music. 

He squeezed Crowley's hand. Crowley looked up at him, eyebrows raised. It was rare that Aziraphale interrupted reading of all things.

"Crowley dear, I was wondering if you would drive me into London to check on the old bookshop." Crowley flashed a smile and nodded in agreement before returning to his book. _There_. Aziraphale thought. _Now I just have to plan a picnic._

Oh, and Aziraphale planned. He referenced the Interwebs, as he fondly called the internet, and found recipes just perfect for a picnic with ducks. He asked Anathema for a thermos of a particular coffee that she had made for Crowley and she kindly complied. He even asked Adam what else they could do in the park. Adam suggested climbing tree competitions and hunting for bugs. Aziraphale was intrigued, but thankfully Newt overheard their conversation and told them that that wasn't very romantic nor a very grown up thing to do. Adam had stuck his tongue out. Newt, in the end, was the most helpful. She was able to suggest carrots instead of bread for feeding the ducks, due to the bread being bad for them. She also loaned him a picnic basket and a Polaroid camera so that Crowley could remember the ducks more clearly.

Aziraphale was excited. He snuck out early in the morning to pack the trunk of the Bentley, as Crowley would never look in there for anything unless to clean it. (Crowley enjoyed manually cleaning his car. Aziraphale chalked it up to his general clean aura, considering his old flat. Crowley doesn't clean his flat though, he just really loves his car.) He then made coffee and tea and dragged Crowley out of bed.

They finally headed out to London around 10 a.m. It's unclear how long it took them to get there, as Crowley tends to speed about 20 over the limit, but safe to say that it was faster than usual. 

They checked on the old bookstore. The couple that Aziraphale had chosen to run it were a very sweet older lesbian couple who invited them to come back next weekend for dinner. Aziraphale would have declined, but accepted when one of them said that there would be an angel food cake and Crowley started laughing. 

They were getting back into the Bentley when Aziraphale tried to casually ask if he wanted to drive by St.James park. Crowley smiled and 5 minutes later they were pulled up to the park. Aziraphale then turned to Crowley and grinned, proceeding to explain his plan of the picnic and the ducks. Crowley was delighted, although not surprised. He had sensed the intrusion of the basket in his car, and Aziraphale was never good at hidding his giddiness. 

The two of them wandered out to their bench. Aziraphale pulled out a checkered blanket onto the ground near the pond, and began pulling food out of the basket. Crowley watched the ducks with a fond expression. 

He had, in fact, grown attached to them. And since he had grown attached to seeing the same ones, he had unknowingly given a few of the ducks immortality. There where reports of one duck that people had been seeing for the last 70 years.

Aziraphale indicated the ground next to him and Crowley accepted the seating arrangement.

"It really is lovely out here." Crowley admitted.

Aziraphale nodded in agreement, as his mouth was full of sandwich. His eyes then light up and pulled out a bag of sliced carrots. He was still chewing, but he took out a small piece of carrot and threw it for a duck nearby. The duck then fought another duck for it. Crowley let out a laugh. He leaned into Aziraphale, resting his chin on the angels shoulder. He grabbed some of the carrots for the now begging ducks, who were threatening to swarm them in a second.

They spent the rest of the evening feeding the ducks.

When they were finally out of carrots, they found themselves running from a herd of ducks that they had inadvertently created. They ran to the Bentley and crawled in as a ducks beak barely missed Crowley's foot. They sat there, breathless for a moment before they both let out hearty chuckles. 

Once they had calmed down a bit, Crowley reached for Aziraphale's hand. He turned, back to the window, so he could face Aziraphale.

"How'd you know I needed that." He asked,

Aziraphale smiled "A tired old serpent told me."

.Crowley stuck his tongue out at him and started driving home. He hadn't let go of Aziraphale's hand despite his faked annoyance. They both rode home with secret smiles on their faces, and as they turned into rheir driveway, Crowley leaned in and kissed Aziraphale. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all! I know its been a while,sorry about that! Bad case of writers block. I also know i said this would be newts proposal butttt this was able to pull me back into writing. I also just thought this was a cute idea.


End file.
